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Anchor Line

Burrell Collection Photo Library

An Anchor Line poster from 1922, advertising two of the Anchor Line's principal routes, Glasgow-New York and Glasgow-Bombay (now known as Mumbai).

Many people travelled east to work in the British Empire. Ships sailing to India from Britain originally had to go around Africa by the Cape of Good Hope. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, however, a direct route was opened from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and this shortened the journey time to India considerably.

The Anchor Line had been operating in the Mediterranean prior to 1869. In 1864, for example, it introduced a service for the Hadj, taking Muslim pilgrims from North African ports to Alexandria in Egypt, from where they continued overland to Mecca. After the opening of the canal the service was extended to Jedda on the Red Sea.

Reference: T82-02

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums